Small, handheld computing devices have been steadily growing in popularity in recent years. The devices go by different names, including palmtops, pocket computers, personal digital assistants, personal organizers, and the like. This disclosure is primarily directed to a class of computing devices referred to as handheld personal computers, or "H/PCs", although aspects of this invention can be implemented other types of handheld computing devices.
H/PCs are small, pocket-sized devices having an LCD (liquid crystal display) with a touch-sensitive screen, a stylus to enter data through the screen, and an input device such as a keypad or miniature QWERTY keyboard. H/PCs have a microprocessor, memory, and are capable of running an operating system and one or more applications on the operating system. Microsoft Corporation recently released the Windows.RTM. CE operating system for use on H/PCs, which is a scaled-down version of its popular Windows.RTM. operating systems manufactured for personal computers.
One of the most desirable characteristics of H/PCs is their portability. The compact, portable H/PCs provide a user with real computer-like applications--such as email, PIM (personal information management), Internet browser, spreadsheet, word processing. A traveling user can receive email messages, schedule meetings or appointments, and browse the Internet from the H/PC.
Some handheld computing devices can notify a user of a scheduled event, if they are turned on. The device plays an alarm sound, or pops-up a dialog box, to alert the user of the event. However, many handheld computing devices have no means of notifying a user when they are turned off, which is normally the case to conserve power. While some handheld computing devices might be configured to wake up and sound an alarm, such devices typically time out the alarm after a short period. As a result, the user can miss the alarm because it terminates before being noticed. In addition, audio alarms may, on occasions, be too faint for the surrounding environment (e.g., an alarm might be overpowered by noise in an airplane flight) or not sufficiently strong to command a user's attention when the user is not immediately next to the device.
It would be advantageous to develop a notification system for handheld computing devices, such as H/PCs, that notifies a user when an event occurs regardless of whether the device is on or off, open or closed, pocketed, or docked, and which remains active until the user acknowledges it. It would also be advantageous to develop a notification system that provides a lasting external notification to the user, rather than a short-run alarm or a pop-up box that is not externally visible.